Apparatus for slicing vegetable or fruit

ABSTRACT

A fruit/vegetable slicer for slicing the food stuff, wherein it comprises: a stand suitable to be installed at the bottom to support the upper composite parts, comprising a rotational crank, a movable blade frame and a housing, wherein a food stuff pressing plate is inserted in the through hole of the housing. In order to slice the fruits and vegetables, firstly the food stuff pressing plate is taken out and the food stuff is put into the housing through hole, the food stuff is constantly being pressed down and the rotational crank is continually being rotated, when the rotational crank rotates clockwise, the movable blade frame reciprocatingly moves laterally such that the food being pressed stuff is sliced. The fruit/vegetable slicer can be operated very easily, and the pressed food stuff can be sliced by merely rotating the rotational crank clockwise and slightly pressing the food stuff pressing plate. Thus the fruits and vegetables can be sliced steadily, swiftly and conveniently, without the user&#39;s being in immediate contact with the blade or causing any unnecessary danger.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a fruit/vegetable slicer, and particularly, toa fruit/vegetable slicer for slicing food stuff.

2. Description of the Background Art

To make dishes such as salads with the existing kitchenware, tools forslicing fruits and vegetables are needed. In the existing technology,the following three types of tools alone are applied to the operation ofslicing fruits and vegetables. Among them, the first type is throughreciprocating sawing action (lateral movement) of ahorizontally-installed blade such that fruits and vegetables placed inbetween are sliced from the left to the right to achieve the slicingeffect; however, it will be especially dangerous if this apparatus isapplied to fruits and vegetables too soft or too small in volume, suchas tomatoes or kiwi fruits, therefore, it will not and cannot be used toslice tomatoes or kiwi fruits.

Besides that, another design is an old-fashioned slicing auxiliary clip,and the method applied to this apparatus is through clipping food stuffin between, and since the shape of the clipping ends is like a comb, thefruits and vegetables can be sliced with a knife after they are clipped;however, this apparatus is not automated enough and thus it cannot savetime, besides since it essentially requires the blade and human labor,the danger of it still exists.

The third design is a toothed bladed knife, this apparatus slices foodstuff with a toothed bladed knife which is connected with a handle, andits toothed bladed knife consists of several parallel toothed cuttingblades, and the method applied is slicing the food stuff which is placedflatwise by pushing down the apparatus; however, since food stuff is aptto roll on the table while being sliced, the apparatus brings aboutinconvenience and the exposed toothed blades are dangerous.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to the aforesaid problems, and anobject of the present invention is to provide a novel fruit/vegetableslicer which can slice fruits and vegetables steadily, swiftly andconveniently without the risk of direct contact with the blade.

To achieve the aforesaid object, the present invention provides afruit/vegetable slicer for slicing food stuff, characterized in that itcomprises a stand disposed at the bottom; a rotational crank rotatablyinstalled on an end of the top of the stand, wherein said rotationalcrank comprises an eccentric cylindrical push rod and a handle; amovable blade frame slidably installed on the stand, wherein saidmovable blade frame has a plurality of blades, and the end of themovable blade frame is operably connected with the rotational crank, andwhen the rotational crank rotates, the movable blade frame isreciprocatingly moved; a housing fixed on the upper portion of thestand, wherein the housing has a through hole for putting the food stuffto be sliced from the above; and a food stuff pressing plate inserted inthe through hole of the housing.

In the aforesaid fruit/vegetable slicer, there are two rectangulargroove-shaped lower wheel shaft tracks respectively disposed at thefront and the back on both sides of said stand, and a plastic shaftsupport in the shape of a quarter-circle extends from the end of the topof the stand, a half-circle shaped lower rotational crank shaft grooveis disposed respectively on both sides of the plastic shaft support, andthere is a rectangular slidable lockhole disposed at the end of theplastic shaft support, and a cuboid slidable lock is mounted at thecenter of the lockhole. In the aforesaid fruit/vegetable slicer, acylindrical push rod body is disposed at the central part of theeccentric cylindrical push rod of the rotational crank, and push rodshafts are disposed on the two side portions at the axes of therotational crank, and the two shafts are joined together through a longplastic block and are located at different axes.

In the aforesaid fruit/vegetable slicer, said blade frame has arectangular blade frame body and a reverse U-shaped fork, a rectangularplastic frame is disposed on the exterior of said blade frame body, andtwo circular rolling wheels are disposed respectively at the front andthe back on both sides of the plastic frame, and the plurality of bladesat the central part of the plastic frame are toothed blades.

In the aforesaid fruit/vegetable slicer, said housing is rectangular inshape, and it can be engaged with the surface of said stand, and a big,square through hole of the housing is disposed at the center, and thefront and back edges at its bottom are both wavy edges, meanwhile, twoin-hole projection tracks are disposed at the central positions on bothsides, and at the central positions of the surface of the housing, thereis a depressed housing pressing plate engaging recessed stripe disposedrespectively on both the left and the right sides, and two rectangulargroove-shaped upper wheel shaft tracks are disposed respectively at thefront and the back on both sides of the housing, in addition, a quartercircle shaped mechanism extends likewise from its end, on both sides ofwhich there disposed an upper rotational crank shaft groove in the shapeof a half circle groove, and at the end of the quarter-circle shapedmechanism there is a protruding barb of the slidable lock.

In the aforesaid fruit/vegetable slicer, said food stuff pressing platehas a square shape which is engaged with the through hole of saidhousing, while at the central positions of the surface of the housing,there is a depressed housing pressing plate engaging recessed stripedisposed respectively on both the left and the right sides, and an arrayof reverse V-shaped plastic pieces are disposed at its bottom,meanwhile, a depressed pressing plate recessed track is disposed at thecentral positions on both sides of the array of the drooping reverseV-shaped plastic pieces.

Fruits and vegetables can be steadily, swiftly and conveniently slicedusing the novel fruit/vegetable slicer in the present invention, withoutthe risk of direct contact with the blade.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the fruit/vegetable slicer in thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the fruit/vegetable slicer asshown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan perspective view of the housing as shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a bottom perspective view of the housing as shown in FIG. 3;

FIGS. 5(1)-5(5) are flow charts of the operation of the fruit/vegetableslicer in the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an illustration diagram of the operational principle of thefruit/vegetable slicer in the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Firstly, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the figures show a fruit/vegetableslicer 100 of the present invention, comprising a stand 1 disposed atthe bottom; a rotational crank 2 rotatably installed on a lowerrotational crank shaft groove 12 on an end of the top of the stand 1; amovable blade frame 3 slidably installed on the stand 1; a housing 4fixed on the upper portion of the stand 1; and a food stuff pressingplate 5 inserted in a through hole 41 of the housing.

FIG. 2 is a resolution of the three-dimensional diagrammatic view of thefruit/vegetable slicer 100 in the present invention, and the figureillustrates the arrangement of the aforesaid five parts. FIGS. 3 and 4illustrate the plan three-dimensional view and the bottomthree-dimensional view of the housing 4.

The stand 1 is installed at the bottom of the fruit/vegetable slicer,there are two rectangular grooves disposed respectively at the front andthe back on both sides of said stand 1, which are called lower wheelshaft tracks 15, and a plastic shaft support 11 in the shape of an arcextends from the end of the stand 1, a half-circle shaped groove isdisposed respectively on both sides of the plastic shaft support 11,which is called a lower rotational crank shaft groove 12, and there is arectangular through hole disposed at the endmost of the whole stand 1,which is called a slidable lockhole, and a slidable lock 14 is mountedat the center of the lockhole for ensuring the firm fastening betweenthe stand 1 and the housing 4.

A rotational crank 2 is mounted on the lower rotational crank shaftgroove 12 of the stand 1, and the rotational crank 2 consists of acylindrical eccentric cylindrical push rod 24 and a handle 21, thecentral part of the eccentric cylindrical push rod 24 is composed of acylindrical plastic column, which is called a push rod body 22, inaddition, the two side portions are two small columns disposed at theaxes of the push rod, which are called push rod shafts 23, and they areused to drive the movable blade frame 3 while the user rotates therotational crank 2 such that it reciprocates the left-to-right movementto cut the passing food stuff.

A movable blade frame 3 slidably mounted on the stand 1, said bladeframe 3 consists of a rectangular blade frame body 35 and a reverseU-shaped fork 31, a rectangular plastic frame is disposed at theexterior of the blade frame body 35, two circular rolling wheels 33 aredisposed respectively at the front and the back on both sides of theplastic frame, after they are assembled, they are positioned right onthe lower wheel shaft tracks 15. The movable blade frame 3 is enabled tomake left-to-right movement successfully, and at the central part of theplastic frame there disposed a plurality of toothed blades 34 which areused for cutting the passing food stuff, in addition, the reverseU-shaped fork 31 is positioned inside the plastic shaft support 11,meanwhile, the reverse U-shaped fork hole 32 at the center sheathes thepush rod body 22, and thus the eccentric cylindrical push rod 24performs its function of making the push rod body 22 rotates about thepush rod shaft 23 as its axis on a circular track, and since the movableblade frame 3 can only move in the horizontal direction, the movement ofthe push rod body 22 inside the reverse U-shaped fork hole 32, on theone hand drives the movable blade frame 3 to reciprocate left-to-rightmovement in the horizontal direction, and on the other hand, is anup-down movement inside the hole (depicted in detail in the followingtext on the operation of the present invention with reference to FIGS. 5and 6).

A housing 4 is fixed on the stand 1, and its rectangular shape isengaged with the surface of the stand 1, there is a square through holeat its center, which looks like a big chimney and is called a housingthrough hole 41, the front and back edges at its bottom are both wavyedges, which are called wavy edges 43 (see FIGS. 3 and 4), theprotruding parts of the wavy edges 43 go right through the positionsbetween the plurality of toothed blades 34, meanwhile, two projectionstripes are disposed respectively at the central positions of bothsides, which are called in-hole projection tracks 42, while a recessedstripe is disposed respectively at the central positions on both theleft and the right sides of the surface of the housing 4, which iscalled lower housing pressing plate engaging recessed stripe 44, sincethe housing 4 and the surface of the stand 1 engage with each other,there are two rectangular grooves respectively disposed at the front andthe back on both sides of the housing which are called upper wheel shafttracks 47 (as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4), and which form a track with thelower shaft tracks 15 allowing the circular rolling wheels 33 to move inbetween, in addition, a quarter circle shaped mechanism extends likewisefrom its end, on both sides of which there disposed a half circle-shapedgroove, which is called an over shaft groove 45 of the rotational crank,such that the upper rotational crank shaft grooves 45 form a hole calledrotational crank shaft hole with the lower rotational crank shaftgrooves 12 disposed on the stand 1, and at the end of the quarter-circleshaped mechanism, i.e. at the endmost of the whole housing 4 there is aprotruding barb which is called a slidable lock barb 46 (as shown inFIGS. 3 and 4), the slidable lock barb 46 hooks a slidable lock hole 13to fasten it firmly.

A food stuff pressing plate 5 is inserted into the housing through hole41 and the square shape of the plate and the housing through hole 41engage with each other, while at the central positions of the surface ofthe housing 4, there is a recessed stripe disposed respectively on boththe left and the right sides, which is called upper housing pressingplate engaging recessed stripe 53, which makes it easier for the user totake the food stuff pressing plate 5 out, an array of reverse V-shapedplastic pieces 51 are disposed at its bottom which pass right throughthe gaps between the plurality of toothed blades 34 on the movable bladeframe 3, meanwhile, a recessed surface is disposed at the centralpositions on both sides of the array of the drooping reverse V-shapedplastic pieces 51, which are called pressing plate recessed tracks 52,the pressing plate recessed tracks 52 and the inside-hole projectiontracks 42 engage with each other, which makes it more steady when thefood stuff pressing plate 5 presses the food stuff.

Next, referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, these figures are illustrationdiagrams of the operational principle of the fruit/vegetable slicer 100in the present invention, the whole operational flow is shown in theorder of (1) to (5). FIG. 5(1) shows a state when the fruit/vegetableslicer 100 begins the operation, the first step is taking the food stuffpressing plate 5 out and putting the food stuff into the housing throughhole 41; FIG. 5(2) shows the condition when the fruit/vegetable sliceris ready to perform the cutting down operation, slightly pressing thefood stuff pressing plate 5 down on the food stuff and rotating therotational crank 2, the array of reverse V-shaped plastic pieces 51 ofthe food stuff pressing plate 5 will secure the food stuff; FIGS. 5(3)and 5(4) show the condition when the fruit/vegetable slicer 100 performsthe cutting-down operation, it can be seen from the figures that thefood stuff is constantly pressed down and the rotational crank 2 iscontinuously rotated, while the rotational crank 2 rotates clockwise,the movable blade frame 3 will move in the direction of the lateralarrowheads as shown in FIGS. 5(2) to 5(4). In the process shown in 5(2)to 5(3), the rotational crank 2 is moved by its handle 21 downward androtates in the left direction as shown in the figures, and as shown inFIG. 6, the push rod body 22 is driven by this movement and rotatesalong the circular track clockwise as shown in the figure such that thereverse U-shaped fork hole 32 moves right and the whole movable bladeframe 3 moves right, and in the circular track, the clockwise rotationdrives the push rod body 22 move downward as it moves right, it can beseen from FIG. 5(3) that the position of the push rod body 22 in FIG.5(3) is lower than its position in FIG. 5(2); in the processes of FIGS.5(3) to 5(4), the rotational crank 2 is moved by its handle 21 in theleft direction to the upward direction as shown in the figures, as shownin FIG. 6, the push rod body 22 is driven by this movement and willrotate clockwise along the circular track in the figures and make thereverse U-shaped fork hole 32 move left, and the whole movable bladeframe 3 moves left to return to the central position of the circle, andin the circular track, clockwise rotation makes the push rod body 22move downward as it moves left, and it can be seen that the position ofthe push rod body 22 inside the reverse U-shaped fork hole in FIG. 5(4)is lower than its position in FIG. 5(3); and then constantly rotatingthe handle 21 can drive the push rod body 22 to rotate clockwise asshown in FIG. 6 to achieve the object of reciprocatingly moving themovable blade frame 3 left-to-right to cut the passing food stuff;therefore, as shown in FIG. 5(5), the food stuff is pushed down and issliced by reciprocatingly moving the toothed blades 34.

It can be seen from the aforesaid structure that the present inventionprovides a novel fruit/vegetable slicer, and thus the fruits andvegetables can be sliced steadily, swiftly and conveniently, without theuser's being in immediate contact with the blade or causing anyunnecessary danger.

1. A fruit/vegetable slicer for slicing the food stuff, characterized inthat it comprises: a stand disposed at the bottom; a rotational crankrotatably installed on an end of the top of the stand, wherein saidrotational crank comprises an eccentric cylindrical push rod and ahandle; a movable blade frame slidably installed on the stand, whereinsaid movable blade frame has a plurality of blades, and the end of themovable blade frame is operably connected with the rotational crank, andwhen the rotational crank rotates, the movable blade frame isreciprocatingly moved; a housing fixed on the upper portion of thestand, wherein the housing has a through hole for putting the food stuffto be sliced from the above; and a food stuff pressing plate inserted inthe through hole of the housing.
 2. The fruit/vegetable slicer of claim1, characterized in that there are two rectangular groove-shaped lowerwheel shaft tracks respectively disposed at the front and the back oneither side of said stand, and a plastic shaft support in the shape of aquarter-circle extends from the end of the top of the stand, ahalf-circle shaped lower rotational crank shaft groove is disposedrespectively on both sides of the plastic shaft support, and there is arectangular slidable lockhole disposed at the end of the plastic shaftsupport, and a cuboid slidable lock is mounted at the center of thelockhole.
 3. The fruit/vegetable slicer, characterized in that acylindrical push rod body is disposed at the central part of theeccentric cylindrical push rod of the rotational crank, and push rodshafts are disposed on the two side portions at the axes of therotational crank, and the two shafts are joined together through a longplastic block and are located at different axes.
 4. The fruit/vegetableslicer of claim 1, characterized in that said blade frame has arectangular blade frame body and a reverse U-shaped fork, a rectangularplastic frame is disposed on the exterior of said blade frame body, andtwo circular rolling wheels are disposed respectively at the front andthe back on both sides of the plastic frame, and the plurality of bladesat the central part of the plastic frame are toothed blades.
 5. Thefruit/vegetable slicer of claim 1, characterized in that said housing isrectangular in shape, and it can be complementarily engaged with thesurface of said stand, and a big square through hole of the housing isdisposed at the center thereof, and the front and back edges at itsbottom are both wavy edges, meanwhile, two in-hole projection tracks aredisposed at the central positions on both sides, and at the centralpositions of the surface of the housing, there is a depressed housingpressing plate engaging recessed stripe disposed respectively on boththe left and the right sides, and two rectangular groove-shaped upperwheel shaft tracks are disposed respectively at the front and the backon both sides of the housing, in addition, a quarter circle shapedmechanism extends likewise from its end, on both sides of which there isdisposed an upper rotational crank shaft groove in the shape of a halfcircle groove, and at the end of the quarter-circle shaped mechanismthere is a protruding barb of the slidable lock.
 6. The fruit/vegetableslicer of claim 1, characterized in that said food stuff pressing platehas a square shape which is complementary with the through hole of saidhousing, while at the central positions of the surface of the housing,there is a depressed housing pressing plate engaging recessed stripedisposed respectively on both the left and the right sides, and an arrayof reverse V-shaped plastic pieces are disposed at its bottom,meanwhile, a depressed pressing plate recessed track is disposed at thecentral positions on both sides of the array of the drooping reverseV-shaped plastic pieces.